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I was listening to a fantasy baseball podcast the other day and the topic of Billy Hamilton came up. An analyst on the program was talking about how in the second half of this season Hamilton has actually began to hit enough to be a useful option in all leagues. They went on to discuss how he was stealing a lot of bases and having more attempts because he was on base more often. To me it sounded like a great narrative. I thought they were on to something because of course they are experts and he was getting a lot more steals. Then I did my own research.

What I found actually surprised me, not a little, but a lot. Let me start by saying I came in to the research with the assumption that Billy Hamilton hadnât been hitting at all to start the season and that his batting average had gone way up since the first half. I was very wrong.

I started by looking at the season as a whole and trying to find a good, arbitrary, date to use to divide his stats in to two periods. While looking I came to the conclusion that I would use his disabled list stint in mid-July as the cut line. With that I looked at stats from opening day through June 8th and from June 17th to yesterday (August 24th). There is an obvious gap between June 8th and the 17th, but again that was his DL stint for a concussion.

Without telling you stolen base number I want you to look at two slash lines and see if you can guess which is the first half segment and which is the second. Slash line one is .255/.328/.319, the other is .269/.308/.394. Which one is segment one of the season and which is segment two?

Ok, time is up pencils down.

The answer is the first slash line is segment two. Surprised? I was. I never would have thought that Hamilton's batting average has been lower in the second half of the games played this year than in the first. But why are people saying he is hitting so much better in the second half, he is only getting on-base at .020 points over the first half. Yet his dramatic turnaround is what a lot of analyst are using to justify the fact that in that second half segment he has stolen 37 bases as compared to 16 in the first half. That is more than double and only a difference of eight games played. I had to dig deeper to see what was going on and because of that I found what I was looking for.

In the month of August Cincinnati has had 21 games and Hamilton has started 19 of them. He has a triple slash line of .297/.395/.365 with 18 stolen bases. Now that is a different player and one that needs to be owned in every fantasy league. If you extrapolate that over a 162 game season he would be on pace for 139 stolen bases. Wow! Question is can he keep this up? Over his four years in the majors Hamilton has a career batting average of .247 and an on-base percentage of .296, a full .099 points lower than his on-base for August.

We know that he is a speedster, just look at the recent statcast video of him getting up to 22 mph running down a fly ball. Can he, however, get on base enough to utilize his speed? If he can keep his number near what they are in August moving forward he will be a premier fantasy option similar to Dee Gordon.

Coming in to the 2016 season Chris Archer was a ranked by most as a top 20 starting pitcher. He finished 2015 with a 3.23 ERA, 252 strikeouts in 212 innings, and a 1.13 WHIP. Archer had a 10.7 K/9 and a 0.8 HR/9, all of which just further confirmed his dominance in 2015. Little did we know that the downward momentum he was showing at the end of 2015, a 4.61 ERA over the last two months of the season with 7 home runs given up in 12 games, would carry over to 2016.

As 2016 started it was evident, if we wanted to see it, that things were not what we had hoped they would be for Archer. His ERA at the end of April was 5.01 and he has already given up 7 home runs in only 6 starts. At that point the narrative was that he had not worked on his pitches in Spring the way he had in the past because he was working on developing a new pitch. Sounded good at the time and we gave him a pass for April. In May his ERA was 4.18 and June 4.97, and still we were letting him slide. Through his first 20 games of the season, ending on July 15th, Archer had a 4.68 ERA and had given up an average of one home run per game. By this point many had said Archer was broken and not the same guy we expected coming in to the season.

However, something changed after that start on July 15th. Since Archer's start on July 20th through his last start on August 23rd he has been a different pitcher. Archer has been nothing short of dominant with a 2.62 ERA, 56 strikeouts in 44.2 innings and only 3 home runs in that 7 games span. You may think, yea but who was he facing in those starts, well two of his more dominant performances came at Colorado on July 20th where he had 11 strikeouts in 6 innings and his last start against Boston where he only went 5 innings but only gave up one earned run and six strikeouts.

Here is what changed. In April through September of 2015 Chris Archer threw his changeup less than 8.5% of the time, then in October he began throwing it 13.89% of the time. Archer’s changeup is the pitch he was working to improve in the offseason and the reason he focused less time on getting his slider and fastball right in spring training. To start 2016, he continued to throw the changeup at a rate of no less than 11.26% of the time and did that for all of April, May and June. In July however he cut his changeup down to 6.87% of the pitches he threw. In his best start since getting right, July 20th at Colorado he only threw the pitch 1.92% of the time. It appears there is a direct correlation between his changeup usage and his outcomes.

It remains to be seen which Archer we will see the rest of the season, but if I was a betting man (and I am) I would put my money on the guy who has been stellar recently and belief he will continue that performance going forward.

This move comes as MiLB and its's MLB affiliates look to realign franchises. Both teams will move to the Carolina League starting in 2017. High Desert Mavericks have been the High A affiliate of the Texas Rangers and been in a battle with their home city of Adelanto to keep baseball there, but with this move that battle will end and the team will now play their home games in Kinston, NC. Bakersfield Blaze, the High A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners will likely move to Fayetteville, NC, but there are other options that are being looked at. Though High Desert may have known that a change was coming after the 2016 season it appears from Bakersfield's Twitter feed that this announcement was a major surprise to employees of the team. ​

Bakersfield Blaze ‏@BakoBlazeBakersfield Blaze Retweeted MiLB.comOur official position is that we are devastated. The sad emoji would also work. So much history ... gone.

Another very interesting point to keep in mind with this move is that it was already rumored that the Lancaster Jethawks, the Houston Astros' High-A affiliate, was also making plans or at least exploring options to move to the Carolina League. Should the Jethawks also abandon the California League there would be only seven of the current ten teams remaining and only three teams remaining in the South Division. A mass exist of that form could leave the remaining teams wondering what the future may hold for the Cal League which was founded in 1941. One of the founding teams of the league was the Bakersfield Badgers.

On a personal note, because we are based out of Southern California it is sad to see these two teams leave. I have enjoyed many a day and night at the local minor league stadiums watching young up and coming talent play for both of these teams. They surely will be missed.

If you haven't heard the name Mitch Haniger, you may not be alone. Haniger is a 25-year-old prospect who made his MLB debut last week for the Arizona Diamondbacks. He didn't get much in the way of hype in the minor leagues this season and when he received his promotion on August 16th there wasn't much in the way of fanfare. With all that being said it may be a good idea to put Haniger on your radar.

Mitch Haniger is an outfielder who was drafted in the first round, pick 38, of the 2012 draft out of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo by the Milwaukee Brewers. Haniger played in Milwaukee's minor league system until part way through 2014 when he was traded to Arizona. In his two plus years as a Brewers farm hand he didn't do anything all that impressive. His average was in the mid .200s, he had one season between Low-A and High-A that he hit 15 home runs and stole 10 bases, but again not any eye popping numbers. In 2015, his first full season in the Diamondbacks minor league system something changed however. That year he had a .310/.368/.515 slash line, hit 13 home runs in 104 games and stole 12 bases between High-A and Double-A.

As a minor leaguer in 2016 Haniger spent time at both Double-A and Triple-A before being called up. During that time, he played in 119 games, had an even better slash line of .325/.423/.588 with 24 home runs, 10 stolen bases and 86 RBIs. Some may point out that he was a little old for the levels he was playing at, but I choose to look at the glass half-full. Haniger may have just needed a little more time to grow in to his skill set, remember he was the 38th pick in 2012 and not a late rounder.

In Haniger's six games since being called up he has a .304/.385/.478 slash line with three walks and eight strikeouts. Yes, it is a small sample size, but the fact that he is maintaining his batting average success and putting the ball in play 58% of the time is a good sign. His home run power hasn't yet made an appearance, but he has had two doubles and a triple in those six games.

Haniger is not the guy you run out and get on your fantasy roster while dropping a usable player, but if you were the Giancarlo Stanton, Shin-Soo Choo, or Matt Holliday owner then you may still be looking for a bat to plug in to your outfield. If Keon Broxton, our favorite widely available outfielder isn't available in your league, then Haniger may be a good speculative add. As of right now he is available in 90% of CBSSports.com leagues.

Over the weekend Cuban superstar Yulieski Gourriel signed with the Houston Astros. This 32 year old infielder has had Twitter buzzing for a few weeks now as he worked out for multiple major league teams. We ask the question, who is Yulieski Gourriel?

Yulieski Gourriel is from Sancti Spiritus, Cuba. Gourriel, which sometimes is spelled Gurriel for some reason, is 6'0, 196 lbs, bats and throws right and can play second or third base. He has played professionally since he was 17 or since 2001. Over that time he has played in 925 games, 5,491 plate appearances, 974 runs, 1585 hits, 250 home runs, 1,018 RBIs, 121 stolen bases, 611 walks and a career slash line of .335/.417/.580. For reference purposes we can compare his slash line to Chicago White Sox player Jose Abreu while in Cuba, .341/.456/.622.

Now that Gourriel is signed he will likely report to either Triple-A or Double-A for Houston and spend around a month before we see him in the big leagues. With Altuve already cemented in as the every day second baseman for the Astros it is anticipated that Gourriel will play third base when he arrives in the big leagues. Expectations will be high as he is the biggest Cuban born star to come to the majors in years, but temper your enthusiasm as it's important to recognize that he is 32 years old and has had a layoff from facing competitive pitching. With that being said, he is a great late season speculative add in just about any fantasy league and could payoff big time if he lives up to the hype.

On Thursday Joel Sherman wrote a piece in the New York Post about killing the 25-man roster. (You can read his article by clicking here) And though there seems to be more and more discussion lately on making changes to the rules when it comes to roster size I think the conversation needs to change.

Many baseball people think there should be limits on how many pitchers a team can use in games or expanding rosters or as Sherman pointed out allowing starting pitchers to be active on rosters only when they are pitching that day. None of this really matters in the grand scheme of things. The 25-man roster is not a perfect system, but no system ever will be and I have no problem with the current system.

Where I do have a problem, when it comes to rosters, is in September. All season long teams are able to have 25 active players on their roster and then suddenly September comes and rosters expand to 40. How does this make sense at all? The game is played differently in September then it is played the other months of the season. There is no other professional sport that I know of that has different roster restrictions for one month out of their regular season. We need to eliminate 40-man rosters in September. Let the games at the end of the season be played under the same rules as the rest of the year.

What do you think? Send us your feedback through the comments section of this post by clicking on “Comments” in the top right corner of this posting.

If I asked you who the longest tenured, active, manager in major league baseball is you may know it is Bruce Bochy with 22 seasons. If I asked you which active manager has the most World Series rings, you would probably know it’s again Bruce Bochy. Now here is the one you may have to think about. Which active manger has the most games won over .500?

Did you answer Bochy, Mike Matheny, Dusty Baker or Buck Showalter? If you did you would be wrong. It is none other than Mike Scioscia. Scioscia has been managing the Angels for 17 seasons. In that time he has taken the Angels to seven playoff appearances. That is the same amount as Dusty Baker and Bruce Bochy, tied for the most amongst active managers. He has won one World Series as a manager and one pennant.

Why am I bringing this up? Well mainly because many have asked is this the year the Angels part ways with Scioscia? And that question simply reminds me that we as the general public have short memories when it comes to our sports teams. We don’t care if Scioscia took the Angels to the World Series, it was too long ago. We don’t care how many American League West titles he has won, they weren’t last year.

We praise Ned Yost, we love Terry Francon and we swoon over Bruce Bochy, but none of them have a better winning percentage than Scioscia. Yes, Bochy has won three championships but all of them have come after his 15th year as a manager, was he a bad manager before that? No, he just had the wrong teams. The Angels under Scioscia are 220 games over .500 that is 188 more games than Bochy, but again I ask does that mean Bochy is a worse manager? Of course not, he won 3 World Series Championships.

I’m sure this came across as a I love Scioscia blog, but that is not my point. My real point is to always look further. We look deep at the stats of players these days to see if they are good or bad, but we overlook the stats of managers unless they have done something for us recently.

Throughout the 2016 season there have been many analysts, including myself, that have been screaming from the rooftops that there is no good pitching available in fantasy baseball. We came in to this season with our lists of “aces” and had an idea as to what we thought our team ERA would be based on the pitchers we drafted. Each week we look at the available pitchers out there and amongst all the stats one we analyze more often than others is the ERA. We see pitchers with a high three ERA and say he stinks I would never want to add him, but he is the best pitcher available.

Our problem is not that these high three ERA pitchers stink, it’s that our perception of what a good ERA is might be skewed. To verify this I took a look at the league average ERA for the 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 seasons. Then I compared those numbers to the league average ERA for 2016. I was surprised at what I found.

Starting in 2012 and ending in 2014 the league wide average ERA decreased from 4.01 to 3.74. During those years we were getting use to pitchers with better and better ERAs. Then in 2015 the trend began to reverse, going from 3.74 in 2014 to 3.95 in 2015.

But why didn’t we complain about pitching being worse last year then? Probably because the increase was fairly small. Now we look at the increase from 2015 to 2016, where ERAs jumped from an average of 3.95 to 4.18 so far in 2016. That’s not a significant difference when you look at it compared to the jump from 2014 to 2015, but it is a major shift if we look at from 2014 to 2016. League average ERA is at its highest point that it has been in five years.

Pitching in general is lousy compared to 2014 ERA numbers and therefore when we look at one individual pitcher on the waiver wire who has a high three ERA we say no thanks, but when you realize that is well below what the league average ERA is that pitcher becomes a whole lot more usable in fantasy baseball. Key point to remember her is that there are still players out there like Danny Duffy, Clayton Kershaw or Jake Arrieta who will blow you away with their ERA, but that guy on waivers with a 3.60 ERA is actually a pretty good add relative to the league.

Even more important in regards to this conversation is that when you draft your team next year remember to keep these new norms in mind when setting expectations.

On Sunday the Minnesota Twins had to make a roster move in order to make room for Trevor Plouffe. Their decision was to send down former number one prospect Byron Buxton. This wasn't the first time the Twins felt the need to send Buxton back to Triple-A this season and it's not the last we will see of him in the majors this season. Now we ask though, is Buxton a prospect or a bust?

Since turning pro at age 18 Byron Buxton has been a top prospect in the Twins organization. He was ranked the number one prospect in baseball for multiple years and was compared to superstar slugger Mike Trout at times. Problem is at this point that Buxton has yet to live up to the hype. After two partial seasons in the majors he is hitting .209 with three home runs and 11 stolen bases. He strikes out 31.9% of the time and only walks less than four in every 100 at bats. In each of these two major league seasons Buxton has more strikeouts than walks and hits combined. He truly has looked over-matched in the big leagues.

Is it really Byron Buxton's fault though or should we be looking at the Twins? Buxton has played in only 306 games in the minors, only 43 of those games came at Triple-A Rochester. Could it be that this 22 year old center fielder was pushed to the majors too soon? Does he need more seasoning after not playing a full season at any one level due to injuries or promotions? We tend to side on the it's too early to tell. Buxton appears to have all the talent in the world and has thrived at Triple-A, but now he needs to develop as a major league hitter. He likely has more chances to prove himself with the big league club coming and when that happens we will get a better idea if he can make it long term.

In 2013 a young, vibrant, Cuban born player named Yasiel Puig burst on to the baseball scene. This 22 year old outfielder had an electric arm and smashed the ball out of the ballpark. Not to mention a fair bit of speed. After his callup Puig went on a tear and finished his rookie season with a .319/.391/.534 slash line with 19 home runs and 11 stolen bases in 104 games. Baseball fans everywhere were impressed by what he had done.

Turn to today and you will see a much different story. Puig was told on Monday that if he wasn't traded he would be sent down and the latter came true. Yesterday he was sent to the Dodgers Triple-A affiliate Oklahoma City. Puig has seen his career nosedive since his outstanding rookie season. Not only has his performance on the field taken a hit, but there have been several stories about his off the field behavior that have made you wonder about his character. Little did we know at the time that in 2013 Puig would have his career high in home runs, stolen bases and batting average. He has had multiple injuries that have slowed his progress and one mental mistake after another.

What Yasiel Puig really needs, and looks like he will get, is a refresh. Puig will get a chance to go down to AAA and sort out his issues. He will be able to learn the game the way he should have earlier in his career. It is not his fault he was rushed to the majors and not give a chance to truly learn the game of baseball, but he has been blamed for it over and over again. Now let's not take all the blame away from him as his off the field and clubhouse issues are on this shoulders, but maybe this dose of humility will help him in that area as well. We wish Puig the best and know that it won't be long before we see him in the majors again.